         ]
     (comp
      (boot/with-pre-wrap [fileset]
-       (let [webapp-edn-files (->> (boot/fileset-diff @prev-pre fileset)
-                                   boot/input-files
-                                   (boot/by-name [webapp-edn]))
-             webapp-edn-f (condp = (count webapp-edn-files)
-                            0 nil
-                            1 (first webapp-edn-files)
-                            (throw (Exception. "only one webapp.edn file allowed")))
-             webapp-edn-map (if webapp-edn-f (-> (boot/tmp-file webapp-edn-f) slurp read-string) {})
+       (let [
+             ;; webapp-edn-files (->> (boot/fileset-diff @prev-pre fileset)
+             ;;                       boot/input-files
+             ;;                       (boot/by-name [webapp-edn]))
+             ;; webapp-edn-f (condp = (count webapp-edn-files)
+             ;;                0 nil
+             ;;                1 (first webapp-edn-files)
+             ;;                (throw (Exception. "only one webapp.edn file allowed")))
+             ;; webapp-edn-map (if webapp-edn-f (-> (boot/tmp-file webapp-edn-f) slurp read-string) {})
              boot-config-edn-files (->> (boot/fileset-diff @prev-pre fileset)
                                     boot/input-files
                                     (boot/by-re [(re-pattern (str boot-config-edn "$"))]))
                                     ;; (boot/by-name [boot-config-edn]))
              boot-config-edn-f (condp = (count boot-config-edn-files)
                              0 (do (util/info (str "Creating " boot-config-edn "\n"))
-                                   nil)
-                             1 (first boot-config-edn-files)
+                                   (io/file boot-config-edn)) ;; this creates a java.io.File
+                             1 (first boot-config-edn-files)  ;; this is a boot.tmpdir.TmpFile
                              (throw (Exception.
-                                     (str "only one _boot_config.edn file allowed, found " (count boot-config-edn-files)))))
-             boot-config-edn-map (if boot-config-edn-f
-                                 (-> (boot/tmp-file boot-config-edn-f) slurp read-string)
-                                 {})
-             boot-config-edn-map (merge boot-config-edn-map webapp-edn-map)]
-         ;; (println "boot-config-edn-map: " boot-config-edn-map)
+                                     (str "only one _boot_config.edn file allowed, found "
+                                          (count boot-config-edn-files)))))
+             boot-config-edn-map (if (instance? boot.tmpdir.TmpFile boot-config-edn-f)
+                                   (-> (boot/tmp-file boot-config-edn-f) slurp read-string)
+                                   {})
+             ;; boot-config-edn-map (merge boot-config-edn-map webapp-edn-map)
+             ]
+         (println "boot-config-edn-map: " boot-config-edn-map)
 
          (if (:reloader boot-config-edn-map)
            fileset
            (do
-             ;; step 1: inject :reloader stanza into _boot_config.edn
              ;; (add-reloader! reloader-impl-ns urls in-file out-file)
+             ;; step 1: create config map for reloader, inject into master config file
              (let [urls (flatten (concat (map #(% :urls) (:servlets boot-config-edn-map))))
                    m (-> boot-config-edn-map (assoc-in [:reloader]
                                                  {:ns reloader-impl-ns

  "generate gae web.xml"
  [d dir DIR str "output dir"
   c config-syms SYMS #{sym} "namespaced symbols bound to meta-config data"
   k keep bool str "keep intermediate .clj files"
   r reloader bool "install reloader filter"
   v verbose bool "Print trace messages."]
;;  (println "TASK: config-webapp")

  "generate xml config files for microservices app"
  [d dir DIR str "output dir"
   c config-syms SYMS #{sym} "namespaced symbols bound to meta-config data"
   k keep bool "keep intermediate .clj files"
   v verbose bool "Print trace messages."]
  (let [edn-tmp (boot/tmp-dir!)
        prev-pre (atom nil)
